UnionPay International announced today that it has partnered with SCT, the major card-issuing network in Nepal, in launching an e-wallet product, Qpay, to provide UnionPay mobile payment service to the local UnionPay cardholders. UnionPay thus becomes the first international bankcard association that has launched e-wallet product in the country. To date, UnionPay QR code payment service is accepted at thousands of merchants in Nepal, and over 20,000 merchants will able to accept the service next year.

China is the largest source of foreign investment and the largest tourist source country for Nepal. In order to better serve the bilateral exchanges between China and Nepal, UnionPay International has made constant efforts in improving its acceptance in Nepal over the past few years. So far, UnionPay is accepted at 60% ATM and 70% merchants in Nepal. With the local switch network, Nepal Electronic Payment System, starts accepting UnionPay cards, UnionPay is expected to reach 100% merchant acceptance in the first half of next year. The official website of Budhha Airlines, Ncell Telecom and other well-known merchants will accept UnionPay Online Payment too.

Based on its continuously expanding acceptance network, UnionPay International is accelerating the localization of its business in Nepal. SCT has 28 member banks, about half of which have issued UnionPay chip cards. SCT is planning to change all of its previously-issued SCT-branded debit cards to UnionPay-SCT co-badged chip cards. The two parties expanded the scope of their partnership to the field of mobile payment by developing the Qpay e-wallet for local customers based on UnionPay technical standards. In the future, Qpay users can either bind their locally-issued UnionPay cards to the app or apply for a UnionPay virtual card in the app so as to pay by scanning UnionPay QR codes at merchants accepting UnionPay QR code in and outside Nepal.

Nowadays, it is increasingly easy to pay with UnionPay mobile payment services in Nepal. Thousands of local merchants have already accepted UnionPay QR codes. These merchants include the North Face and Royal Singi. UnionPay International has also inked agreements with eSewa, the largest e-wallet company in Nepal, and Nabil, a major local bank, to jointly enable large numbers of local merchants to accept UnionPay QR code payment.